


Affection for Redheaded Gallaghers

by shmickeyshmilkovich (NoirRock)



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Anchors, Bipolar Disorder, Gen, Hugs, Love, Sibling Love, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirRock/pseuds/shmickeyshmilkovich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Debbie visits Mickey after Ian goes into the hospital for psychological treatment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affection for Redheaded Gallaghers

Mickey was sound asleep, curled up underneath the covers with his arms around a pillow. For once, he was the only one home. Svetlana, Nika, and the baby were at a friend’s house. His brothers were probably out doing something questionable or illegal. Mandy was probably somewhere with Kenyatta. And Ian….

The other side of the bed was cold and empty. Mickey’s stomach felt the same way. It felt like a hard, frozen metal lump was lying at the bottom, pressing him lower to the floor, making him slump his back and shoulders. His mind was caught in a storm of annoyance, anxiety, and sadness and he could never figure out how to stay on one emotion. It was a jumbled mess inside of his head and he was sick of it. It was even worse when no one was around. He didn’t need to pretend he was fine when he was by himself. He knew he wasn’t fine. It was fact that he missed Ian, and that it hurt so badly to not have him here. It hurt to leave him there in that hospital. It hurt to not be in contact with him. It hurt to be away from him, as it always had.

Although the bed felt too big, the house was too quiet and Mickey didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts. He crawled beneath the blankets and lay on his side, holding onto Ian’s pillow, his face buried in it. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and he sniffled, curling his knees closer to his chest. Within a few minutes, he was asleep. 

In the midst of his nap, he heard a voice calling his name. A female voice, light and shaking. Scared, worried, concerned. At first, he thought it could have been Mandy. But, no, this wasn’t the voice of his sister. This voice was different, one that he couldn’t immediately identify. 

“Mickey?” said the voice. “…Mickey… Mickey?” Mickey slipped slowly and briefly into consciousness. Maybe the voice was part of a dream he was having. It had stopped, and he wiggled further into the bed, wanting to fall back asleep. But then it spoke again.

“Mickey?” The voice belonged to Debbie Gallagher. Why was Debbie here? She had no family ties to the house, at least not right now. Ian wasn’t there. Ian was in the hospital. Mickey turned toward the voice, rolling onto his other side. Debbie was standing in the doorway, a silhouette against the backdrop of the hall light. 

“Debbie?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing one eye. She lingered in the hallway, twisting her fingers together and looking at the floor. 

“Debbie, what are you doing here?” Mickey asked sleepily, squinting at the light. She took a quick breath in, preparing to speak.

“Mickey, I—” Her breath hitched in her throat and Mickey sat up further at the sound of her sniffling. 

“Debbie?” he said softly. It was a tone he had only really used around Mandy or Ian. In the past few months, Mickey had grown quite fond of Ian’s younger sister. Maybe he felt affection for redheaded Gallaghers. Maybe she reminded him of Mandy. Whatever it was, she was kind, understanding, helpful, and when Mickey was living at the Gallagher house, she never seemed to mind his being there. Debbie took one step further into the bedroom. She sniffled again, and took another step. 

“I miss him,” the silhouette said, and Mickey’s heart sank into his cold and empty stomach. He hadn’t even thought about how Debbie might feel. Or Carl. They looked up to Ian, their big brother. Their hero. Where Lip had smarts, Ian had ambition and drive. They watched while their amazing older brother turned into someone they barely recognized. It was just like Fiona and Lip had warned him: “If he’s anything like our mother…” And he’d turned out to be like his mother. Not in every way, no. There was no way Ian would abandon his family, bipolar or no bipolar. Mickey knew Ian was still there, beneath the manic-depressive highs and lows. And Debbie and Carl were so young.

“I miss him so much.” Her voice had become clouded with tears, thick and full of sorrow. Mickey frowned and planted his feet on the floor, placing his hands in his lap. 

“I miss him too,” he replied, and it was the first sentence he’d said in a while that sounded solid and sure. It was the only thing he was certain of: he missed Ian. Debbie sniffed again and he could hear her breathing, shaky and unsure. He didn’t know how to help, how to make her feel better. He didn’t even know how to make himself feel better (besides drinking himself to sleep, and he’d told himself he’d done too much drinking over Ian after he’d ran off to join the Army, and it never did him any good, and it only made him more like Terry). Mickey let one hand drop down to his side and Debbie moved a few more steps toward him, very carefully. 

Before he knew what was happening, Debbie had her arms around Mickey, enveloping him in a hug. She was sobbing softly into his shoulder, trembling. She held onto him like he was an anchor. She wasn’t blurting out how she felt, but she was showing it, without shame or regret. This was a Gallagher thing, and it was difficult for Mickey to comprehend. But it was what Debbie needed. So Mickey put his arms around her, and he hugged her tightly, holding her close to him, letting her cry.

They sat there for a while, embraced in a hug, missing Ian together.


End file.
